


The Duet

by FireFoxCanFireFuckOff



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Based on a poscast, Based on a scene from the Adventure Zone, Big Gay Love Story, Fluff and Angst, Harley is Lup, M/M, Musicians, One Shot, Peter is Barry Bluejeans, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Set in the future, my version of the soul world, the snap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24152164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFoxCanFireFuckOff/pseuds/FireFoxCanFireFuckOff
Summary: Their fingers move swiftly and confidently against their instruments, never faltering, never hesitating. Peter looks, for once when he isn’t behind the mask, ready, assured that whatever will happen will be okay. They look at Harley, and his face is the epitome of calm. Every muscle is relaxed, he looks like he has done this a thousand times and honestly he probably has. And as Ned, and Mj, and Shuri, some of the most important people in their lives watch this performance; watch as the notes engulf their senses and weave around each other as if it was a dance, they realize just how drastically, Harley and Peter’s relationship has changed.alternativelyThere's been a lot that went on during the past nine years, even during the snap in the soul world. It's been a whirlwind of life and death, of missed memories and time, and love. After being stuck in the soul world for five years with Mj, Ned, and Shuri, as well as many years at college, Peter and Harley have grown ever closer even if they don't realize it. Their love comes to a crescendo during a duet played at their college showcase.(based on the scene: The Duet, from the DnD podcast The Adventure Zone)
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker
Kudos: 18





	The Duet

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based on The Duet, a scene from the DnD podcast The Adventure Zone. A lot, of this is direct quotes from that scene, which you can find here --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Ze7EFY8Wo&t=181s 
> 
> This is a phenomenal podcast with gorgeous storytelling that I recommend for anyone that needs something to keep them occupied. I adore this scene and felt that Peter and Harley fit perfectly into these roles and I just had to write them as such. I hope you enjoy the piece!

MIT was a science and engineering school. Everyone knew this. It was the main reason Peter and his friends had applied. After all, you don’t just go to a technology and science highschool, or in Harley’s case be taught and mentored by Tony Stark for years, to completely switch your path in life. The five of them, Ned, Shuri, Peter, Mj, and Harley, had celebrated four years ago when their acceptance letters came with, and though this might come as a shock, a Star Trek marathon. The idea seemed like blasphemy to Ned and Peter, but it wasn’t their fault they were out voted.

They spent those years addicted to the study of science, in advancements to better the world around them. And though the years were spent with dark circles under their eyes and endless coffee mugs practically glued in their hands, things were good.

In their last year however a new program was added to the school. It was vague and honestly, that’s what drew most people in. In layman's terms, students were asked to create something that showcased their growth. This was interpreted in any way possible, some decided that it meant their growth as students, others as people. Many student questioned the existance of the showcase it’s self, after all it gave no prize or reward to students. Nevertheless seniors with all majors and interests joined.

The year was spent, obviously continuing with their normal classes but, on the side, students would dedicate their time and effort to making themselves and their family proud.

And the day finally arrived.

The showcase was an extremely long event, with a large stage built on the quad for everyone to see. It resembled a gazebo, something Mj laughed about for hours afterward. A platform six feet in the air with a large roof adorned in lights above it. Surrounding the stage were rows and rows of seating, chairs that looked like they took months to make accompanied by fold out lawn chairs when the staff realized how many people were coming to see the show. There, in the middle of this crowd of students were Ned, Mj, and Shuri.

The sun was beginning to set and street lights began to turn on all around them. Ned and the others had already presented their works. Shuri had constructed replica lightsabers that could actually work. She proudly recreated one of the fight scenes from Star Wars as the dean stared at her with a very disatisfied look in her eye. Mj had diverted from the path and done a painting, large and gorgeous, a study on the labor of students. Similarly Ned had chosen to go a separate route. He had taken his hand to whittling. A decision that baffled everyone else but when they saw how excited Ned had been, quickly shut up. Ned had created a wooden duck. It was small and, well, dinky. But when he presented it the smile on his face said everything that needed to be said.

“It’s not much, but it’s the best I can do” and the crowd had responded with boisterous and confused applause.

_The last people to present their work to the audience are Harley and Peter._ The two of them walk onto the stage and get ready. Shuri’s hand shoots up to wave as fast as possible when she sees who has entered the gazebo, as well as shaking the others erratically to get their attention. And when Ned and Mj finally see who is on the stage they wave too. Peter, despite being a long ways away, smiles a nervous smile and waves back. And as they sit in this audience the three of them realize that they haven’t seen Harley and Peter much at all this year. They had been spending a lot of time working on this project that they were going to present to everybody. It isn’t uncommon for them to go off like this, they are, at this point, very close collaborators in everything that they do. Most of the time in studying different parts of the world and the best ways to use technology to improve them. But this time they got together to work on this very specific craft.

The two of them fidget around preparing everything that is needed, and their friends can see from the crowd a large grand piano being rolled onto the stage as well as a beautiful violin being carried by Harley. The crowd is quiet, and up onstage Peter drops his sheet music on the ground whilst trying to get the piano ready. He leans on the table and frantically trying to pick them up, though it takes longer than anticipated and the wind keeps spreading them around. Harley stares at Peter, stock still in his position not helping him gather his things but gazing at Peter with this calm and adoring look in his eye, a rare thing to see. Harley himself, shifts from side to side and taps his bow on his leg, waiting to go. Shuri, one of Harley’s closest friends for years; (after they met through Tony and spent numerous days building and sharing theories all the while growing close as people) had never really seen Harley nervous, but in this moment. On this stage, he is.

Eventually the two get everything together that’s needed and Peter sits down calmly, now more sure of himself, and Harley picks up his bow. And the two play, a duet.

Their fingers move swiftly and confidently against their instruments, never faltering, never hesitating. Peter looks, for once when he isn’t behind the mask, ready, assured that whatever will happen will be okay. They look at Harley, and his face is the epitome of calm. Every muscle is relaxed, he looks like he has done this a thousand times and honestly he probably has. And as Ned, and Mj, and Shuri, some of the most important people in their lives watch this performance; watch as the notes engulf their senses and weave around each other as if it was a dance, they realize just how drastically, Harley and Peter’s relationship has changed.

It’s been nine years since the snap first occurred, and every single one of them has vanished. It was a strange time, or lack there of I suppose, because time and space and the worlds beneath their feet were, completely and utterly inconsistent.

It’s hard to remember the snap and what happened while those people were gone, it’s hard for them to remember what they went through. And most of the time it feels like a dream that you can’t quite remember other than snippets and pieces. What they can remember however is important memories formed there as well as “living” in this place, though the details of this planet or plane escape them. The best description people have of it was a world that looked like our own except, homes and buildings, roads and people, looked different or were in a different places then they were in real life. But everyone that had disappeared was there, so they hung on to those they could find. And this group of people that we see now watching their friends, and those friends that they watch were there together, desperately trying to sane.

Time was different for those in the snap, different than anyone else who had ever lived. During this journey undefined by time; unable to discern if a day had passed or a hundred for the definition of time kept changing, their minds stayed sharp, they didn’t grow, didn't age, a lot of people filled this void by learning new abilities and languages, though many more lost these abilities when they came back to life.

Though it isn’t just their minds that changed. Over this ageless period something less quantifiable developed too.

Our capacity for love increases with each person we cross paths with throughout our lives and with each moment we spend with those people. But too often we neglect that part of ourselves in favor of others and by the time we realize just how important it is, we find ourselves with fewer folks around to practice with. But the vanished, in this missing piece of their lives and even afterwards with those they met in the strange world, had something no one else ever had. Time. Time to grow indescribably close. Time enough to learn how to care for others, and how to let themselves be cared for, afterall who else would when only half the people were alive to do so.

_In the case of Peter and Harley, time enough to grow deeply and truly in love._

Peter had felt it first during a particularly hard year.

The first year had been spent figuring out the world and trying to make sense of everything that happened. People worked tirelessly to create systems in order for people to stay in check, laws and rules, as much as there could be. But that year was over. And it all still felt…

empty.

The grass wasn’t as green here. Not in a metaphorical sense but literally. The oceans looked, grayer, colors were so dull. That was the worst part of it all. Because, well, if it wasn’t for the colors being dull and gross, the world might have been considered beautiful. But it wasn’t, and it was hard for Peter to even look at anything! His stomach churned every time he opened his eyes. The only solace he was given was the milliseconds when he blinked. His sleep gave him no rest. Every dream he had was Tony’s face before Peter died, terrified and unable to save him. And Peter could remember every second of his death, his spider sense made sure of it. Every feeling of pain, of being pulled apart atom by atom. And the worst part was that Peter’s hero couldn’t save him. His father figure couldn’t do anything as he watched him turn to ash.

And then Peter woke up. He got out of bed. Took a shower. Went about his day, and stayed up until he physically couldn’t anymore. And the cycle would continue. He was tortured by anxiety and thoughts of everything he could have done, every move he made that day, every mistake that he blamed himself for.

In that second year Peter. Ned, and Mj, found each other as quickly as they could. They found abandoned houses and stayed in them. Each of them too afraid to sleep in their own. Eventually Harley joined their group of misfits after being found racing cars to get a bit of excitement and thrill (though Harley knew the real reason he raced was because it was the only thing he had left). And not soon after, Shuri joined as well, she had been creating machines and tech to help out those who were suffering. It didn’t take long for her to recruit them. Their abandoned houses became labs and workshops. The work was nice.

Peter had appreciated the distractions, the time spent with his friends, his only family now. They grew thick as thieves and helped Peter more times then he could count. Didn’t make life in the ‘place’ easier however.

During a particularly bad episode, Peter woke up from one of his many nightmares with a scream. His senses were going haywire and anxiety was flooding into his brain. Panic seeping into every crevice.

His body was a supernova about to implode and he couldn’t handle it! Every sound was too loud! They bounced off the walls of his skull until everything sounded like blurring white noise endless and impossible to escape from! He hated it here, he couldn’t stand anything anymore. He was a mess and disappointment unable to do his job. Why hadn’t he stayed on earth?! Why hadn’t he stayed on earth with his family?! He left them alone as the world got destroyed! What kind of hero was he!

And then the door cracked open. And Peter whipped his red eyes, vision blurred from tears, towards the door. And in stepped Harley. Shame welled up inside him like a ball of fire. And there was silence, a dead weight on both their shoulders. Harley crossed the floor to Peter’s bed, the cot shifting and bending as weight was added. And Harley asked if he could touch him, and Peter nodded.

A hand laid on his arm, tentatively as if he were cautious about the whole situation. Why wouldn’t he be?

“I’m sorry. God that word used to have meaning but I swear to you Peter, this time I really do mean it. The world sucks right now. We lost everything,” his voice was hardly above a whisper and yet it echoed across the world, “I don’t know if things are going to get better. But if not, we can be, not okay, together.” Harley hugged him in that room, the world spinning around them both. They held on with all their might.

_And Peter knew._

Harley wasn’t far behind, though, his moment of realization was a bit more innocuous. During one of the years closer to the end of the snap Peter was spending a lot of time working with Shuri to create A.I that could be used for a multitude of purposes: agriculture, repair of city buildings, and the dispersal of medication and supplies.

It was a project that everyone was incredibly proud of and that the utmost time and effort was spent into perfecting. At one point Peter took up the job of repairing the bots that had glitches or were harmed while in the field, and there was a bot that took a major blow in a crash. The Bot’s thrusters had sustained damage and it was unable to fly, though the rest of it worked just fine. The A.I, however, was a very rambunctious one and everytime Peter got close to the interior of it’s mainframe it would shock him.

Harley had joined Peter on this specific day after finishing all of his work, and he would watch and wait for Peter to move closer and closer and BAM!!! Electricity literally filled the air. Apparently the bot found this extremely funny and would let out a loud beeping noise that was so close to sounding like a human laugh that they both suspected it was. Harley couldn’t help but laugh too. And as he looked at the guy in front of him, hair standing on end, oil smeared on his face, but smiling nonetheless.

_He knew._

This new love wasn’t their focus while trapped in that strange world. Peter worked endlessly to understand everything about the world they were in, how it differed from the reality they had left years ago. To understand the stones and figure out a way to come back and find his family once again.

Harley grew furiously in power and knowledge. He studied countless subjects and created new suits in honor of Tony Stark, he created weapons for a war no one was sure to ever come, and collaborated with Shuri and Peter and Ned and Mj and anyone else possible, to make life in this place better.

But there were moments between those studies and meals shared just the two of them under the guise of their work, sightseeing trips for two across these deserted cities and shotgun towns. And that love grew and grew until the point that all great loves grow toward, the point of, inevitably.

And, looking back, the three of them realize that this is where that love that was cultivated subtly and quietly for years, finally and suddenly bloomed. There was romance in every measure and longing in every note. And at the very end of the performance the two of them get up, well I suppose just Peter as he was the one sitting down at the piano, and take each other's hands high in the air, and swoop down for this over the top bow! Laughing, shoulders shaking wildly, at the drama of it all. In that moment the audience breaks out in roarous applause, and Peter and Harley laugh,

_and they don't let each other’s hands go._

_And they stop laughing,_

_and they still dont let each other's hands go._

_And they keep not letting go._

Harley, the three of them can barely see it from where they stand but he does, he turns to Peter and whispers in the softest of voices, eyes never leaving the other’s, never once looking to his friends or the audience there giving them a standing ovation and says,

“Peter, would you like to go somewhere and talk for awhile?” and Peter looks back. And he smiles. And says

“Yeah, yeah I would”

The lights on the stage dim and the crowd’s applause finally dwindles off. People begin to notice how late, and not to mention very cold, it has gotten, and they begin to dwindle off themselves. Making plans to meet up tomorrow or get ice cream after they get the jackets from their dorms. Ned begins to search through the herd like a crowd looking for Peter and Harley just to complement them and give them the biggest hug that has ever been given, and to invite them to get dinner himself. But he’s unable to find them, because they're already running up to the dorms, hand in hand.


End file.
